a little help from a guardian
by narufuuin
Summary: it only takes a little help before worlds can change. Of the nine who were charged to protect the world, only the ninth remains. with all of his comrades either dead or facing things worse than that what can he do but give a little bit of a nudge to people trying to pick up where he left off?


She woke with a groan of pain. Her chest felt like it was on fire.

She tried to raise her hand but her arm protested moving at all she she realized she was in so much pain when she tried. She wanted to scream in pain and anguish but she couldn't.

"Easy. Easy now. Just relax. You're safe here. I've almost lost you a couple times now. Don't want you to get lost in the pain because you tried to move when you're not quite ready yet. Have a ways to go before that." It was a deep voice and one she didn't know.

She tried again to open her eyes but was met only with pain. Pain and so much light.

"Jeez calm down. I just said you were safe. No need to get all curious now. Just sleep for a while. You still need to heal."

She felt a cooling sensation on her forehead and though she tried to fight it she slipped quietly from consciousness.

"Hehe stubborn girl." He chuckled after her breathing relaxed into sleep. "But those were always the ones that needed my help the most. You should be ready to leave in a couple more days." He said mostly to himself as he walked away from her.

The damage that she had gotten from that girly brats arrow had nearly been too much for him to heal. Luckily for him his semblance was almost cheating when it came to healing people.

When next she woke she was in much less pain and she managed to sit up and open her eyes fully to take in her surroundings.

She was in a what seemed to be a cave of some kind. The dark stony walls not giving off any detail about where she was. Light flickered from a couple of torches as a small breeze passed through. She slowly got up fighting through the lingering soreness she had from not moving for a long time.

It took a second but she sat back down as her last memories hit her with all the force of her friend Nora with her hammer. She was supposed to be dead. She had tried to fight the woman who seemed to be the one who had orchestrated the fall of her school. With that many Grimm around and Professor Ozpin most likely dead as well seeing as she was the one to come out of the elevator and not him the school was lost.

She curled up in a ball as tears flowed down her face.

"I failed."

Her tone was nothing less than broken as she stared down at the stone floor her red hair spilling around her head. Her friends were most likely dead and eaten

"No you didn't. You did you absolute best. No one can deny you that." A voice said from in front of her.

She lifted her head, tears still falling around her face. "How could I not have? My school fell, my friends are most likely dead and the people who depended on me were dying." She waile at the mystery man.

He smiled a gentle thing before kneeling down in front of her. "Taking that piece by piece," He said wryly. "You are not the totality of what was in play there girly. Don't try to take that burden by yourself. So what a few buildings are lost, oh no." He said waving his hands as if joking. "Buildings can be rebuilt and restructured. It is the people inside that count more. And with you keeping the brat busy she couldn't kill any other people than those who were already dead because of her plans. Your friends dead?" He asked smiling. "No," He chuckled, "they are anything but fortunately. They were hurt yes, but they have not died and they did not lose their ambition to save what's left. No one could deny you the price you made them pay for attacking your school."

The girl just shook in shock. "They're not dead?" She asked nearly pleading with the man close to tears again.

"No girl. Well some people died yes," he admitted. The attack and fall of Beacon academy had not been bloodless. "But your friends on your team and your other friends team did not die. They were injured, taken, mentally tortured, and their resolve almost broke. But they did not fall." He explained as best he knew. The world would need fighters and this girl had a fire that just needed a spark before a vast inferno would come down on the people who attacked her friends and companions.

She seemed gladdened and saddened by the news. She leaned back for a moment and finally really looked at the stranger in front of her. He had stood up when she kneeled back so all of him was exposed to her sight. He had wild golden hair that seemed to burn with the sun in the firelight. He had silver eyes and whisker marks on both cheeks. He was not a tall person by any means but considering the height of some of her friends he was a bit on the short side. And lastly, he had nine long red tails waving behind him slowly. "What are you?" She asked before she could stop herself.

She was about to apologize for her rudeness but he did something unexpected.

He laughed.

It wasn't a chuckle or weak at all. It was a deep belly laugh that seemed infectious despite the mood she had been in. It was so full of joy that she couldn't help it as a small smile found its way onto her face without her even feeling it.

"Oh man," He said as he chuckled getting his laughter under control. "Oh, I haven't laughed like that in years." He said stretching. "Oh that felt good. But to answer your question, I am Naruto Uzumaki. The nine tailed guardian of the world." He said waving his tails behind him for emphasis.

She couldn't take it. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell back as her consciousness left her.

"Well that went well." Naruto said looking at the girl he had saved. "Now how to tell her that it's been nearly a month since the attack?" He asked himself as he walked off humming to himself.

A loud roar woke her up the third time. She woke with a start and forced herself up. Nightmares coming up at losing people and she had a frown on her face as she started to make her way towards where she had heard it.

Looking through the hallway she managed to make her way to a large opening where the cave opened and saw something that made her pale.

In front of her was an army of Grimm.

"Man they are relentless lately." Her hosts voice said as he walked up behind her and past her rolling his arm around stretching. "Bunch of persistent buggers really." He continued as if he wasn't in any danger at all from the horde in front of him.

"Wait!" Pyrrha gasped out stretching on me hand forward.

"Hmm? Sorry girl." He apologized waving his hand back to her. "You're not in good enough shape to fight this little band right now. Maybe later. Glad to see your up though hey maybe you can go get yourself some-." He said smiling until she interrupted him.

Her eyes widened as an Ursa Major lumbered forward and was about to swipe at him. "Watch out!" She yelled pointing behind him.

Only for one of his tails to intercept the arm as if it wasn't anything. "Bitch, I was talking." He said frowning at the monster. Another of his tails swept forward and Pyrrha felt her jaw drop as the Grimm was sent _flying_ away from just the little wave of his tail. She saw it disperse in mid air as it didn't even live long enough to make it to the ground. "Anyway," He said turning back to face her smiling now. "Maybe you can get yourself some grub it's all in the cave just turn left when you get to the second torch in the hallway." He finished before turning to the Deathstalker that his tails had immobilized. Two tails held each of the claws while three held the stinger in place. "Now if you don't mind I will take care of the door to door salesmen and we can get started on your rehabilitation." He said cracking up at his own joke.

"Umm…" Pyrrha said a little confused. "Go ahead?" She said confused.

"Why thank you dear." He said cheerfully before turning back to the Deathstalker.

As she turned around she could hear a great number or roars and a few loud booms and even a few whimpers as some of the older Grimm made pained noises as Naruto turned his attention to them.

None of them made it to the cave.

Unseen by most a small Grimm barely the length of an arm crawled for the cave seeking what was within. It was speared by a long red tail and life went on.

Pyrrha, walking through the hallway and after turning left at the second torch found a small area with what looked like a refrigerator a small stove and a small table with a window behind the table for the view. She walked over to it to see something beautiful.

She could only truly describe it as paradise. It was a small clearing with a waterfall leading to a pool surrounded by greenery and a small stream leaving the pool to somewhere. It was beyond beautiful.

"It's pretty isn't it?" Her hosts voice asked as he walked up behind her.

Looking over her shoulder she realized he was a lot shorter than she thought he was. His head just reached her armpits but his tails were taller than her by far. He had a small smile on her face as he looked back at her. "My my is such a pretty thing checking out this old geezer?" He asked sighing dramatically.

She started to stutter a refusal before something he said caught her ear. "Old geezer? You can't be any older than I am." She replied frowning.

"Hmm. That's quite kind of you to say I'm still young but I've been alive for many a year. I'm as old as dirt." He said cackling.

"Bu-but…" she protested waving at him. "You look younger than I do!"

"Mah," he replied shrugging. "Did you really think a guardian would be an old geezer? Maybe the five and four tailed guardians were but I'm not." He laughed, "no. I'm around.." he blinked before looking at her. "What year is it now? I never keep up with the calendar except for major dates like the my pals birthdays and when peace treaties were formed." She told him and he blinked. "It's been that long already? Geez," he said scratching the back of his neck. "I need to get out more. I'm five hundred and twenty two." He said without a hind of a lie.

"Huh- wha- ho- what?" She asked looking at him.

"Hmm? Now what kind of question is that?" He asked frowning at her for the first time with his hands on his hips. "Don't they all teach you history anymore? The nine guardians are reincarnated every time they die. The strength they carry is used to keep humanity safe whenever something goes wrong." He sighed. "At least we were supposed to before the others got themselves permanently killed." He said scowling st nothing in particular. "I'm the last guardian and I take my job seriously. As soon as I felt the attack taking place I started going there to stop it." He sighed.

"What?" Pyrrha asked looking at him quizzically. "Did you not get to someone or someone else die?" She asked.

"Heh. Believe me I grabbed as many people as I could stealthily. No need to scream to the enemy that I'm still alive." He said looking up at her. "No, I'm going to need you back into fighting shape and so much better. You're going to train girl. You're going to be broken and hate both me and my training but by the end of it you will be thankful for my help. It's going to take some time for you to get back into shape but we need to move." He said.

"Why do we need to move? You just defeated a huge Grimm army like it was nothing." She said. In the few seconds she had seen him attacking the creatures of Grimm dozens of them had died. With his kind of strength he could probably defend this place forever if he wanted to. So why leave?

"Because I already said that I didn't want to shout out that I'm still alive." He was quiet for a moment before looking at her. "Do you know of the four maidens?" He asked.

"Yes Professor Ozpin told me about them before the attack and showed me the fall maiden." Pyrrha said nodding.

"Good. Saves me a few minutes talking. Did you know though that there is another legend called the silver eyed warriors?" He asked seriously.

It felt weird to be on the move.

Not that she was against it in anyway. But after nearly a week of just resting and a little training she was almost ready. Her host had been brutal training her. She had broken bones, singed flesh, missing a lot of hair and almost lost an arm from how brutally she was being pushed.

She had cried in pain and exhaustion, begging for rest before her resolve firmed and near begged to go again. She was determined never to lose her friends again. Never to be separated again. She liked her friends, they weren't the best but they were hers. And she felt a burning desire to tear all the Grimm in the world away to keep them safe.

She needed to find them. Her friends.

According to Naruto, Ren, Nora Jaune and Ruby we're heading to Mistral. And according to his sources, heading right into a trap. She needed to find them.

She wasn't alone however. Behind her stood the same nine tailed fox faunus who had healed her and was now traveling with her.

"So." Pyrrha said dragging the word until she had something to talk about. "What exactly are the guardians?" She asked finally.

"Been waiting for that one?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her before facing forward. "The nine Guardians. We are the group that keeps the world in a somewhat safe place. I'll admit that it's been harder since someone messed with the Vytal festival though. Lots of negative emotions and not enough huntsmen to go around keeping the Grimm out. People are starting to not feel safe anymore. It breeds negative emotions and so the Grimm come to feed on them. The Faunus have it the worst though." He said frowning.

Pyrrha frowned as well not liking anyone having a truly hard time. She just wanted the world to be safer than it was currently. "How is it hardest on the Faunus?" She asked.

"It stems from humanity's insistence that it's better than everyone and everything else." He said shaking his head disgustedly. "When humans and Faunus first met it was humanity that threw the first spear. 'They're different' they said, 'barbaric animals' says another. Faunus are no different from any other human except for the pain they have felt from Humanity's overbearing hand. I've been meaning to get over to the Menagerie and help them but," He sighed again. "Since the others were killed I've been weakened. And I've been trying to recoup my strength."

"What happened to them?" Pyrrha asked cautiously.

His jaw set and he kept walking for a moment before he spoke again. "The enemy. Her name is Salem. She took them and put them in the bottom of her Grimm breeding ground to make stronger and tougher Grimm to fight against humanity again. Their souls lost to the torment, never again will they reincarnate." Pyrrha stopped walking for a moment before just staring at him. "But hope remains. A girl at your old school had the power of the silver eyes and she needs some guidance on how to use them before people come after her, if they haven't already." He muttered the last.

Though the words had been quiet she could still hear them because of the total silence that surrounded them. "What do you mean if they haven't already?" She asked concerned.

"Your friend, the smaller one in red with the silver eyes." He said turning to face her. "The enemy knows she has them. And because one of them has a Maiden's power they have a weakness to her strength. If she isn't already targeted she will be soon. The silver eyes are meant as humanities weapon against everything that would harm them. Be they Grimm or Maiden or relic a silver eyed warrior could destroy them all with naught but a glance."

"Is that why you're so strong?" Pyrrha asked.

"Heh, no. I worked my ass off to get every shard of strength I have. The silver eyes are merely something I use when I'm in a rush. Plus they drain your stamina like no other." He said adding the last looking at the ground. He shrugged. "Either way though, we need to get to Mistral."

It took days before her curiosity cropped up again. This time with a different target. "So why exactly do you have a large piece of gold on your back?"

He had a large brick of gold sitting on his back just under his backpack. "It's a bribe." He said not stopping at all.

"For who?" She asked bewildered at who would need such a large bribe. And for what exactly did he need it for?

"The Branwyn tribe." He said without explaining.

She blinked before she turned to him again. "So why do they need a bribe?"

"Because they have something I want and this is the easiest way to get anything from a tribe of bandits." He explained.

"A bandit tribe has something you want?" She asked confused.

"Yup."

"What do they have?"

"A person."

"Who is it?"

"Weiss Schnee, from what I've been told. They plan to ransom her back to Jacques for stuff. I plan on giving them a better bribe." He said.

"Wait Weiss?" She asked shocked and concerned that her friend was being held prisoner by a group of bandits. Who knew what they were doing to her right now.

It didn't even take half a day more before they had reached high wooden walls with spikes and a couple of guards at the front that each had frowns on their faces and weapons in their hands.

"And where do you think you're going? This isn't a place for a couple brats." One said taking a swig from a brown bottle while the other just sneered at them.

"Ah, this is the Branwyn tribe isn't it?" Naruto asked cheerily.

"Sorry kid, you got the wrong place if your in for looking for something from us." the drinking one said not sorry at all.

Pyrrha scowled at them but was only held back by one of Naruto's tails as he smiled at them.

"Could one of you nice gentlemen tell Raven Branwyn that Naruto is here to make a trade with her instead of having to go all the way to Atlas to trade off something you don't want already."

"Raven doesn't want to talk to brats," a new voice said coming from behind the two thugs. She stood a little shorter than both of the guys but they hurried to stand up straight while she approached. "But since you're here anyway why don't you just take off the bags and give us what we want?"

"Because it is a hassle to try and steal from a silver eyed warrior." Naruto said matter of factly with a smile on his face.

There was silence for a moment as Naruto smiled before all three bandits cracked up laughing. "Pfft, you really believe that story? Hahaha I am so sorry for you but that is just fairy tales and myth, there are no silver eyed warriors." the woman said laughing.

"Oh? I'm surprised you didn't tell her the great weakness that maidens have against me Raven." Naruto said looking behind them all.

The woman lost her smile as she saw Raven standing there weapon ready to fight and a frown on her face before turning back around and coming to a defensive position.

"Stand down girly, I didn't come here to fight you all. I came here to trade with you." Naruto said not relaxing the bandits in anyway shape or form. "I only want the girl that you are keeping prisoner, that's all. And then I'll give you the gold." he said pulling the brick of gold from his back.

Raven looked at the smile that Naruto held but the look of confidence in his eyes meant he held quite a bit of the power that he had been famed for. "And what happens if she's roughed up a little bit?" Raven asked cautiously.

Naruto shrugged keeping his tail around Pyrrha's waist keeping her back. This was not the place for her to be angry at. "Then she is a little roughed up and I heal her." he rolled his eyes as Raven nodded at one of the guardsmen.

"Get the girl and do not harm her." Raven commanded. The thug hesitated for only a brief moment before a sharp look from Raven sent him running.

"So you've found a little friend for an old geezer like yourself?" Raven commented not looking away from Naruto.

Naruto laughed. "Hardly, I think this one likes someone else to be honest. She wouldn't share much but she did have a heart for, I think his name was Jaune?" he asked looking at Pyrrha whose face was nearly as red as her hair. "Yup, Jaune. I'll have to meet the young man sooner or later." he laughed.

Raven tightened her grip on her sword.

Naruto hummed looking back at her. "Now now, calm down girly. I have no desire to fight right now. Besides, do you really think that your tribe would benefit from the three of us fighting right now?" he smiled gently, but Raven and Vernal could see the monster just waiting to come out and play.

Raven let go of the handle on her sword slowly. "You promise no violence on your part?" she asked carefully.

"I mean you no harm. I would thank you to mean no harm in return." Naruto said smiling.

Raven's hand didn't move from beside her sword for a moment before she let it down and just carried her sword like one would a suitcase. "I can live with that. I've heard dangerous things about you from past leaders. What promise do I have that you won't come after us?"

"You have my promise that I will not come after you and yours so long as you don't come after me and mine." He frowned for a moment his smile slipping. "I've given mercy and grace to your tribe in the past and I would do the same now. I would thank you to return it to those that are precious to me." He said seriously before his frown deepened as the thug returned with a bruised and unconscious Weiss.

Naruto pursed his lips in annoyance. "Seems the Branwyn hospitality is the same as ever." He said not caring that the tribes leader was in front of him.

Raven stiffened before she gripped her sword again. "Do I need to fear reprisal for this."

"No. Not this time. Our agreement won't include Weiss this time. It does for future reference however. And just for your information." He said lifting the brick of gold over to the side of where the thugs were. "She isn't the heiress to the Schnee company anymore and Jacques being the cruel bastard that he is disinherited her so you wouldn't have gotten any of the ransom for her anyway." He said picking the girl up with his tails. He paused for a moment before looking over his shoulder. "Oh, you should probably get the girl to another spot. Two other people are looking for her. See ya." He said waving his hands over his shoulder as he and Pyrrha walked off.

"Well that went well." Naruto said cheerily once they had camped for the night heading towards Mistral.

Pyrrha just stared at him. "We nearly battled the entire tribe over Weiss because you wanted her out of their grip." She said still staring at him.

"Correction, I wanted Weiss so you had a friend other than an old geezer like me for company." He said smiling.

"AAAAHH!" The white haired and themed girl said now awake. "Where am I?" She said imperiously turning around before her eyes locked on Pyrrha. "Pyrrha?" She asked before her eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious.

"I wondered how she would take being out of the Branwyn tribes tender mercy." Naruto said.

"Weiss!" Pyrrha said rushing over to her as she fell down and nearly hit her head on the ground. Pyrrha shook the ex-heiress's shoulders trying to wake her back up. She either ignored or didn't hear the snickering that Naruto was letting out.

When the girls eyes opened Pyrrha smiled in excitement and hugged the girl. "Pyrrha? How are you alive?" She asked hugging the tall girl back. "I heard you had died."

"Long story short," Pyrrha said leaning back staring at her. "Some fairy tales are real and one found me and saved my life."

"Ok you are going to have to explain that better than just a fairy tale." Weiss said frowning despite Pyrrha's miraculous return to life.

"Sorry." The girl apologized.

Weiss just hugged her again. "I'm glad to see the rumors of your demise were exaggerated though."

Pyrrha couldn't help it. Her friends biting wit, reuniting with someone she knew was real other than just someone who claimed to be a fairy tale and the Grimm for company, along with the boy she liked thinking she was dead and all her friends thinking the same.

She laughed.

She laughed and laughed even as tears streamed down her face before she broke down hugging her friend for all she was worth.

"Ah Pyrrha?" Weiss asked not getting a response as the girl kept hugging her.

"I was wondering when that was going to happen." For the first time Weiss's eyes landed on the other person around the campfire and nearly jumped in shock at his appearance. "Ah. Sorry I'll leave you two alone for now. Don't want to interrupt any bonding between you two." He said before walking off humming a cheery tune.

Weiss merely hugged Pyrrha as she cried and cried.

At the end of it she was emotionally and physically exhausted. She must have held and comforted the girl for hours. Though she was honest enough with herself to admit a few of the wet spots on her shirt from from her as being reunited with a thought deceased person was wonderful.

She didn't see the man or whatever he was come back before the two of them fell asleep.

"So the maidens are real and the nine guardians exist as well?" Weiss asked as they walked towards Mistral. It was her ending destination anyway and having a chance to catch up with her friend was wonderful.

"And the silver eyes." Pyrrha said nodding. "From what i've figured out the Nine Guardians were the initial protectors of humanity and Faunus alike from the Grimm." she said pursing her lips. "But the Maidens, relics and Silver eyed warriors are older than they are."

"Then why don't the Guardians help out more than just staying in the background? Where were you when Beacon was attacked and my friend nearly killed?" Weiss asked glaring at the shorter man walking in front of her.

"In order, think for a moment. What is your father's stance on faunus?" he asked back. "Even in the remote region I was recovering I've heard of him. Just because i've not been in person doesn't mean I didn't do anything to help." he said glancing back at her.

"What does my father have to do with anything? And what help did you give while you were admittedly out of the picture?" she asked back still glaring at his back.

Naruto hummed for a second as if trying to remember something before pounding his fist on his other hand. "Pink pineapple parmesan pear pieces." he said confusing Pyrrha completely at the gibberish.

What?

Weiss on the other hand had frozen and it took a moment for them to realize she had fallen behind.

"You ok snowflake?" Naruto asked only getting wide eyes from Weiss.

"How?" she asked staring at him.

He smiled. "Did you really think all i did was fight? I had to do something to help out. And besides, the man makes some good grub. From what I had heard the Jacques Schnee is not a nice man and the negative emotions he causes in the masses does not help. I needed someone close to him in case it ever really got out of hand. That and I wanted to make sure his kids weren't ever going to turn out like him." he said frowning at the last.

"That's a lie." Pyrrha said grabbing their attention.

"No its not." Naruto defended.

"Yes it is. You care way too much for children to even think about anything else." Pyrrha added.

Naruto blushed for a moment his eyes going between the girls before huffing and turning around.

Weiss was only more confused. "What?"

"From the few interactions with other people I've seen of him, Naruto hates it when children are either disregarded, abused or anything like that, and from whatever he heard from your dad I wouldn't be very surprised if he put someone there just to watch over the children so that you wouldn't be abused, neglected or just grow up happier than if you were just with whoever you dad is." Pyrrha said pointing at Naruto.

Weiss looked over at him with wide eyes but he refused to look at her even as he blushed and before he knew it Naruto was being tackled by the ex-heiress as she tried to thank him.

"ACK! Gerroff of me!" he said wiggling around on the ground trying to get her off of him.

Pyrrha however noted that he wasn't trying very hard as his tails weren't trying to wrap around Weiss at all.

When she finally did get off of him she beamed at him before glaring at both him and Pyrrha. "If either of you two ever tell anyone about that," she trailed off threateningly. Naruto merely gave her a stink eye while Pyrrha giggled.

They had just been coming away from their camp when they had been sped past by a blonde on a motorcycle. Both girls had nearly deafened him when they both yelled out "YANG" very loudly and very happily.

The motorcycle had slowed down for a moment and stopped when she turned around and nearly fallen over when it was revealed that another person was on it besides just Yang. It was a guy that looked rather rough and a thug if there ever was one.

"Weiss?" She asked getting off of her motorcycle her fake arm pulling her sunglasses down.

"Yang!" Weiss yelled nearly throwing her swords the ground before launching herself at her old teammate.

"Weiss."

"Umm excuse me but aren't you still looking for someone? I can lead you to her." The thug called out from the back of the bike. The only reason he hadn't left yet was because that Yang had taken the keys when she had gotten off and he couldn't start the machine with the Faunus watching him.

"Now, now. Let them have their moment. It's been months since they last saw each other." Naruto said cheerily. "Besides, you really think a small ambush would take out a semi-trained huntress?" He asked getting the guy to look shocked as the Faunus just appeared in front of him as he blinked.

 **So I imagined this story right after watching season 5 episode 3 and figured it would be fun to write, but... I probably won't update them so they are free to whoever wants to adopt the idea going forward. or anything from this story really**


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